Show And Tell

FIRST it was Big Brother . . . but now it’s the 'nosy parker’ down the road who can snoop in on individual farmers and find out the exact amount of money they receive in EU payments.From next month, anyone can log onto the Department of Agriculture website and start finding out what each individual farmer receives from EU funded schemes. This week, farm leaders and some politicians have described the development as 'completely over the top’ and an invasion of the privacy of individual farmers.The publication of individual farmers’ details is part of an EU policy regulation which stretches across its 27 countries.Payments in such schemes as REPS, the Single Farm Payment (SFP), Area Based Payments, Installation and Early Retirement will start appearing on the Dept. of Agriculture website from September.East Galway Fine Gael TD, Paul Connaughton, described the move as 'a severe intrusion of privacy’ for no apparent gain to anybody. “This is not what transparency is all about. Every cent of EU money paid to farmers is accounted for and audited vigorously with very strict checks and balances in place,” said Deputy Connaughton.He said that such a move certainly wouldn’t create any goodwill from the farming community towards the EU, adding that he had a sneaking suspicion the introduction of the streamlined SFP scheme some years ago, cleared the way for...